"The higher you go, the fewer women there are"

Dana von der Heide is co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of logistics start-up Parcel Perform - and winner of the Digital Female Leader Award in the Innovations category. In an interview with Startbase, she explains how she wants to revolutionize e-commerce and what her plans are for the USA.

Dana von der Heide founded her start-up Parcel Perform together with her business partner Arne Jeroschewski in Singapore. The team has now set up a second location in Berlin to cater to the booming business in Europe. The pandemic in particular has fueled demand for logistics solutions in e-commerce.

Ms. von der Heide, you call yourself a technerd, which makes you a rare woman in the logistics industry. Was it a difficult path for you as a female founder?

There are far fewer women in the logistics sector than in the tech industry anyway, especially at management level. I previously worked for a large logistics company and already noticed there that the higher up you go, the fewer women there are. I wanted to change that and I still want to. It's difficult for women to find their way into this industry, which is why I want to do as much as possible to get as many women as possible interested in LogTech with Parcel Perform.

What do you do differently, especially for women in your company?

We have almost 50 percent women in all functions. However, I also see myself as a role model to show that logistics doesn't have to be a male-dominated industry and that you can also be successful as a woman. The great thing is that the boom in e-commerce means there are many more young people in the industry today who are interested in this topic and for whom a balanced environment is important. The industry as a whole is becoming younger and more diverse. But there is still a lot to do.

Your company has a lot to do anyway. You only moved back to Berlin this year after living in Asia for six years. Why is that?

I spent the last six years in Singapore because I was fascinated by the rapid growth of Asia. After my first two years there, I also met my co-founder Arne Jeroschewski and we both realized that there was a huge need for transparency in parcel logistics. As we both come from the Berlin area and we have also acquired many customers here in Europe, we are naturally looking forward to expanding further in Europe. The coronavirus pandemic was a good time for me to move back and manage our global teams virtually. And there is a lot to do - e-commerce has become even more important during this time, which has enabled us to grow all the more.

After all, logistics companies are not data-first companies.

Dana von der Heide, founder of Parcel Perform

Why is the demand so great?

When you shop online, you want to know where the delivery is and, above all, when the parcel will arrive. The customer also wants the parcel to arrive reliably and to be able to plan their day. If they are told it will take five to ten days, they may not buy the product. Knowing exactly when the order will arrive therefore influences the decision-making process of every online shopper. The problem is that of the more than 700 different logistics providers that we integrate, only five percent state when their parcel will even arrive. And those who do state it are often even wrong.

Why do you think that is?

Logistics companies are not data-first companies. They concentrate on delivery, but have few teams that evaluate the delivery data in a structured way, even though they have the data. For example, they say it takes three to five days. They don't use machine learning to replace the forecast, as we do. We want to provide a much more accurate forecast and that is not possible with rule-based planning, especially not in times of coronavirus.

How does it work instead?

We aggregate the tracking data from hundreds of logistics service providers and standardize it so that we can then interpret it and use it to accurately predict the arrival date. We then integrate this prediction as a data point into the retailer's tracking page and the retailer uses this as helpful information to communicate with the customer. This means that the consumer does not have to switch to the logistics provider, but can see when their parcel will arrive from the comfort of their desk and on the webshop page.

Felix Leitmeyer

You earn your money with retailers such as Waterdrop, every Foods, Snocks and many other growing brands. In other words, those who are actually on the other side. Why are they interested in this topic?

Because they are interested in keeping the customer on their side. The tracking updates from logistics companies are sometimes very opaque for many customers. If their parcel doesn't arrive, they usually call the place where they ordered first, i.e. the online retailer. However, they are often unable to help. This irritates the customer and, from a marketing perspective, disrupts the shopping experience. In addition, the precise prediction of a parcel's arrival date offers a wonderful point of contact with the customer, who often reads such emails and builds up trust in the store.

But you can't take care of everything if it doesn't fall within your own area of responsibility.

The important thing is that the customer doesn't want to be left alone in a situation where they don't know where their delivery is. Responsibilities should not be shifted back and forth. Especially not if there are problems with the delivery. Then the retailers need to be able to help quickly and easily, so they need the right data.

And Parcel Perform can do that?

Our aim is to offer a completely seamless shopping experience. Because all sides benefit from this. The retailer gains the loyalty of the customer. The customer is informed directly and the supplier also has less work. We are just the silent intermediaries.

But we don't just want to keep expanding, we also want to create a good work-life balance for everyone and operate in our customers' time zone.

Dana von der Heide, founder of Parcel Perform

Your biggest customers include online mail order companies Zalando and Wayfair. Are you worried that the market boom could soon bring a lot of competition?

We are seeing growing competition, but that doesn't worry us. It shows that there is incredible market potential. As more and more parcels are being sent, we also need better and better solutions. But because we started six years ago and data was at the heart of our offering, our machine learning is very advanced.

That's why your company may even be heading to the USA soon. What are your plans?

It would be great if that works out. Especially to have an office in the USA for some employees. Our work is global anyway. For customers like Nespresso, for example, we have to look after several countries across all continents at the same time. However, we don't just want to continue expanding, we also want to create a good work-life balance for everyone and operate in our customers' time zones. In the future, we will not only expand our tracking offering, but also continue to invest in machine learning and returns processes.

Thank you very much for the interview.

Personal details: Dana von der Heide, 30, studied communication and political science as well as psychology. She describes herself as a "tech nerd" because logistics is her great passion. In her podcast called "The Logistics Tribe", she talks about the global logistics market and supply chain management. She lived in Singapore for a long time, where she also founded Parcel Perform.